We met at a party at my apartment. It was August 2006, my roommates and I had just moved in and we were celebrating Jessie’s 21st birthday. I was standing in the hall outside our kitchen when someone introduced me to a few friends they’d brought.

Hugh was tall and thin and played trumpet in the Marching Virginians. I, having been raised with the absolute knowledge that the Hokie Pokie really is what it’s all about, found this an attractive quality in a person. We small talked about my being a campus tour guide and I implored him to do the Thriller dance in our living room.

It wasn’t love at first sight or anything far-fetched like that, but it was something.

So when, more than a year and a half and a few more run-ins later, Hugh approached me at a friend’s St. Patrick’s Day party and said, “This may be out of the blue but…” my immediate thought was no it’s not, this totally makes sense.

“This might be out of the blue, but I was wondering if you’d maybe like to go out sometime… like to dinner…” Hugh said.

“It’s not out of the blue,” I said. “I’d love to.”

Last Friday night, on the fifth anniversary of the awkward conversation that began our relationship, we discussed his question and my response over sushi.

Hugh remembers swapping phone numbers and making a plan to be in touch about dinner the next night. I remember trying not to make him feel more nervous, which I now know only made it worse. It was awkward, as was our first date and pretty much everything that followed for the next year or so.  But it made sense.

Then our anniversary nostalgia session was cut short by a rogue jalapeno in Hugh’s sushi. Five years later, we still go on awkward dates. But it makes sense.